Beginnen Media launches India’s 1st Rural Entertainment Channel, Azaad

Beginnen Media was launched in October 2019 and is headquartered in Mumbai. Beginnen, as the name suggests, is the German word for ‘Commencement of Something New’. The Vision of the organization is to pioneer a ‘People Specific’ range of products and services. It believes in the power of collaboration and its core values include People Focus, Inclusion, Diversity, Empathy, Market Focus and Accessibility. Its Mission is to develop innovative, authentic, creative entertainment experiences and related multi-media products. Innovation is a strategic value at Beginnen Media and a fundamental part of its corporate culture.

Beginnen Media is spearheaded by Mr. Bharat Kumar Ranga, a stalwart whose influence in the broadcast business is a shining example as he continues to inspire innovation in the Media & Entertainment industry. Ranga is known to inspire and give a new dimension to the world of media business by developing High Performance, People-focused teams that deliver exceptional service and profits. Recognized as the Performance Accelerator because of his uncanny ability to identify market opportunities to deliver extraordinary results, his global experience and cultural fluency have led to the creation of eleven new platforms that were successes in India and across the world. 

Beginnen Media aspires to meet customers where they are and provide an entertaining experience for everyone across platforms. The first offering from Beginnen Media is Azaad, India’s ‘FIRST Premium Hindi Entertainment Platform that will feature Content Exclusively for the ‘Rural Mindset’. Azaad represents a strong belief in the ‘Power of Engaged Connections’ with its stakeholders. With its premise being ‘People First. Rural First’, the building block of the brand Azaad has been to service a ‘Latent Demand’ of an Underserved Audience Segment with a Huge Untapped Opportunity. Currently, the channel has select hand-picked syndicated family entertainment, all localized in Hindi. It will also soon launch its Original slate that will encompass the rural person’s entertainment needs with relevant and relatable narratives.

Beginnen Media Managing Director, Bharat Kumar Ranga, said, “We are working towards fostering a new culture of doing business in the media & entertainment industry and creating a ‘People-Centric’ model. Our aim is to cultivate an inclusive strategy considering audiences in rural India as a part of our growth plans. Since creativity has an expiry date, we are constantly searching for the next successful idea leading to tremendous wastage. While our new model of Consumer Specific Entertainment Channel is focussed and is not dependent on any new creative formula. We believe that it’s time to transition from a creative-centric model to a consumer-centric one.

“Our model is not about having deep pockets, it’s all about the deep understanding that we have of the rural person’s emotions, aspirations and entertainment needs. The rural viewer is often confused as a free viewer and are completely ignored, but they are actually a mindset and we would like to capture their thought process. Beginnen Media’s flagship brand, Azaad is just the first small step in creating a premium people specific product for the rural person. We consider Azaad as premium as it means superior thought, clarity in vision and it does not mean high cost or spectacular imagery. In the first year of Azaad, we want to create a niche in this super mass category of rural audiences. The content will clearly be created based on what the rural consumer wants to see and not what we would like them to see,” says Ranga.

Beginnen Media also announced its leadership team with executives who add deep experience across verticals to further strengthen the organisation's ability to develop more personalized experiences with new and existing audiences who have a rural mindset. Their work will support the momentum that the company is already experiencing in its launch phase and is expected to create future vectors of growth. The five-member core leadership team announced by Beginnen Media, Managing Director, Bharat Kumar Ranga includes Mohan Gopinath as Director - Project and Operations, Doris Dey as General Manager- Product, Rachin Khanijo as Chief Marketing Officer, Johnson Jain as Chief Revenue Officer and Dinesh Bhutra as Chief Financial Officer. Speaking about the team, Ranga says, “There are some talented jewels who are a part of my team. I am very proud of them. Some have worked with me for over a year and the rest have joined about six months ago and are doing a brilliant job.”

Azaad is available on DD FreeDish and select Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs) in the heartland markets and it is available on DD FreeDish on Channel No 36.